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Harewood fails to hit the spot

West Ham 0 Watford 1

When panic invades, when a gamble that has cost one West Ham manager his job and now threatens another goes so sourly wrong, we see disaffection appear like rust in the supposedly iron metal of a side once an institution of East London.

Astonishingly, West Ham, never cohesive and, apart from Yossi Benayoun, seemingly at odds with any skill they may have, managed to make Watford look composed and combative. If they continue like this, relegation is more than an idle threat.

Neither side had been granted a penalty kick this season: yesterday they both got one. Watford scored but Marlon Harewood abjectly missed the gaping target of the net, and probably with that shot, a nerve-ridden misplaced effort, the air evaporated out of West Ham.

"The supporters have been the one consistent thing since I've been here," said Alan Curbishley before this game on which West Ham's immediate future